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Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?

Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

Matthew 6:25

Commentary This type of worry causes us to devote our finest energies to making sure we will have enough to live on. Then before we know it, our lives have passed, and we have missed the central purpose for which we were made. God did not create us in His image with no higher destiny than that we should consume food. We are here to love, worship, and serve Him and to represent His interests on earth. Our bodies are intended to be our servants, not our masters.

Most people in Jesus' time struggled to meet their most basic needs for food, clothing, and shelter. Workmen were paid daily, so that they would have money to buy food for their families the next day. It is difficult for us today, with our social safety nets, to understand how precarious life was for most people of the first century.

Jesus urged those who would live as citizens of His kingdom to give priority to spiritual matters. They were to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, confident that the God who knew their needs would provide for their daily needs.